What We Did: Bouquets

For our flowers we wanted in-season, local blooms at a reasonable price. We'd waited until the week before the wedding before researching badge options for the San FranciscoWholesale Flower Mart. When we called we found out that you can apply online but processing takes two weeks and you can only pick up your badge on specific days at specific times.

What did this mean for us? We could still go to the Flower Mart but only during hours when they're open to the public. Not all vendors sell to the public and not all are open on Saturday. For hydrangeas and baby's breath this wouldn't be a problem. For more exotic and more specific blooms this might be a problem.

We took a first pass through the mart and then picked through the buckets of hydrangeas for the freshest blooms. There were a lot that were already browning but we were able to find enough fresh antique blooms. We got the hydrangeas from two vendors, one of which was Piazza International. The total cost of the flowers for our cake and my bouquet came to $33.14.

Earlier in the week we'd decided to replace regular baby's breath with a purple "baby's breath" or statice. After looking at the available flowers we picked the purple "baby's breath" and paired it with dark pink wax flower and silvery leaves. The flowers for the bridesmaids' bouquets and the boys' boutonnières came from Neve Roses and cost $39.96.

We'd budgeted $100 for florals and this was one DIY area where we came in under budget at $72.10.

After we picked up our flowers we were off to our Diva of Honor's house to assemble the bouquets. It was such a nice sunny day that she brought her dining room table out into her backyard so that we could enjoy the day while we worked.

I'd originally thought we'd secure blooms with rubberbands. Instead we used zip ties.

After Ames assembled the bridesmaids' bouquets she tied the ribbons for my bouquet and the toss bouquet.

Once the bouquets were finished, we transferred them to our refrigerator.

In case you missed it, all of our bouquets - with the exception of the toss bouquet - had three antique keys on them.

What Inspires Me: Hydrangeas

This Saturday we're going to head out to the San Francisco Flower Mart and pick up the flowers for our wedding cake and our bouquets. So of course flowers are on my mind. 

Here are some ideas that are driving my thinking for my bouquet and our cake. 

I really like the style of the pink hydrangea bouquet below - substituting ivy in place of the other greenery as my mom has as much ivy as we want to use in her yard. 

For My Bouquet:

Photography Credit: Natalie McComas via 100 Layer Cake

Photography Credit: Jeff Greenough via Style Me Pretty

Photography Credit: Lisa Dawn via Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

Photography Credit: Gia Canali Photography via 100 Layer Cake

For Our Wedding Cake:

Photography Credit: Kristen Honeycutt via Inspirations & Creations

Photography Credit: Natalie McComas via 100 Layer Cake

{Green} What Inspires Me: Eco-Friendly Boutonnières

Have you thought about the flowers for your groom? Typically referred to as boutonnières. Or commonly misspelled as boutinnieres. Or easily abbreviated as Buttons.

Created/Photographed by Ruffles and Stuff

For our wedding, I'm trying to figure out if go with real flowers (snuck out of my parents' yard under cover of darkness), paper flowers, fabric flowers, or something else for the boutonnières. And whether we make them ourselves or buy them.

What do you suggest we do?

Fresh Flowers
If you're aiming to be green, flowers seem to be the thing you should avoid at all costs. If you feel you have to have flowers, well then be sure that you're choosing in-season flowers that are locally grown without pesticides.

To avoid this whole environmentally insensitive area I'd begun dreaming of raiding my parents' garden (they're local; anything that would be in bloom for our wedding would be in-season; and they don't use pesticides). Cuttings from my mom's Australian Tea Bush (Leptospermum scoparium 'Ruby Glow' - New Zealand Tea Tree 'Ruby Glow') would compliment our soft romantic vintage look.

Leptospermum scoparium

(Source)

And if the tea bush isn't blooming, there's sure to be Heather a plenty (blooms from July through November).

(Source)

However, I'm not sure my parents would appreciate us appropriating their landscaping. It would definitely be a very personal DIY touch. Moving on from that day dream, a truly eco-friendly boutonnière would be one that isn't made from fresh flowers. I started thinking we could make our own. Here are some of the DIY Boutonnières that have caught my eye.

Paper Flowers

Photographed by Pat Furey, spotted on Project Wedding

So far I've found a tutorial on Just Something I Made for how to make the paper leaves using a page from an old cookbook, our printer, Matte Modge Podge, and scissors. This is a relatively inexpensive DIY Project, our only cost would be the Matte Modge Podge; 4 oz runs about $3. I also found a tutorial on Elizabeth Anne Designs that could be scaled back in size to create the flower itself.

Photography Credit: For You Love Me via Ruffled

Crafted/Photographed by Miss Trail Mix for Weddingbee

Crafted/Photographed by Miss Guinea Pig for Weddingbee

There's even a handy step-by-step tutorial for making these origami flowers. This seems like a more manageable task if we're just using origami flowers for the boutonnières in place of escort cards.

Fabric Flowers

Boutonnières by Emersonmade
$38 to $42

(Source)

Eco-Proper via The Broke-Ass Bride (includes video tutorial!)

(Source)
Boutonnière by Peppermint Cloud (Etsy)

$19.99 to $29.99

Depending on the material you chose, nylon or organza for example, you can create romantic corsages for your MOB and MOG.

(Source) Includes step-by-step tutorial for creating the flowers.

(Source) Includes step-by-step tutorial for creating the flowers.

Twigs and Seed Pods

(Source)

Feathers

(Source)

Photography Credit: Simple Photo in Ontario via Style Me Pretty

Boutonnière by Pomp and Plumage (Etsy)

$10 to $14

(Source)

Boutonnière by Rationale (Etsy)

$8.50 to $10

(Source)

Unique

(Source)
Boutonnière by Drinking Stars (Etsy)

$20 for 1; $125 to $150 for set of 5

Totally Random or Careful Placement?

Last night we took a break from Syzygryd (our project/camp for Burning Man this year) and called a Wedding DIT Project Night. We prepared by eating at our favorite sushi place - Sushi Zone (just around the corner from our place) and then dove in. cubes worked on the flowers for our tables, carefully removing the stems from the buds, while I worked on redesigning our RSVP cards to include our revised menu choices.

After all the flowers were destemmed, it was time to mock up a tablescape. The linens are very large and Sprite was very interested in them so they were quickly put away. At the center of each table, we're going to have candles in various bottles. The bottles are different sizes and different colors. We didn't realize that we'd initially grouped the bottles at random, not alternating as initially planned. While people probably aren't going to notice the detail, we started thinking about how we wanted the bottles arranged.

Which grouping do you like? Totally random (number 1), All similar colored bottles grouped together (number 2), Alternating colored bottles (number 3), or Other? Please tell us what you think.

Let's set the table

The linen and wool felt Dahlias (http://emersonmade.myshopify.com/collections/the-dahlias) in this EmersonMade product shot (http://emersonmade.myshopify.com/collections/linens) were one of the inspirations for our tablescapes. As our wedding flowers are going to be Dahlias and Hydrangeas (flowers that are in-season in October), its elegant simplicity captivated. Unfortunately the Dahlias and Poppies were not available in our wedding colors. A little Photoshopping and Dahlias and Poppies that matched our color palette were added to our inspiration board (http://cubesedenwedding.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-inspiration-board-or-two-or-three.html).

During a lunchtime trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics (http://cubesedenwedding.blogspot.com/2010/03/of-flowers-wine-and-ribbons.html) shortly after we finalized the inspiration board, I found 6" Real Touch Silk Dahlias in our wedding colors. To make it even better, Jo-Ann Fabrics had the blooms on sale - Buy One Get One (BOGO) Free. A price low enough to purchase Dahlias in the wrong color and RIT dye for another DIY floral project. From 6 Jo-Ann stores, we were able to find enough Dahlias and Peonies for at least 10 tablescapes with a total price tag under $300, which my parents gifted to us.

Here are the photos of a trial tablescape. We were trying to figure out how many Dahlias and Peonies we'd need per arrangement. Note that the stems haven't been cut off as if we couldn't find the blooms these were going to be returned.

Since the first visit to EmersonMade's site, they now sell the flowers as well as the linens. However, the per flower pricing of the EmersonMade flowers made them cost prohibitive. For 1 table, the set up we were planning would have been approximately $388 without tax or shipping or dyeing). This for roughly a 3' path of just 5 flowers: 2 - Snow White Dahlia (http://emersonmade.myshopify.com/products/snow-white-dahlia) at $68 each, 2 - Big School Bloom Rose (http://emersonmade.myshopify.com/products/school-bloom) at $82 each, and 1 - Cheeky Pink Big Wild Rose (http://emersonmade.myshopify.com/products/cheeky-pink-big-wild-rose) at $78.

Update: Of flowers, Wine, & Ribbons (aka Scavenging Supplies)

Lots of wedding stuff happened this weekend. On Friday, I found Real
Touch dahlias in our colors-Aubergine and Amethyst and Peonies in
Ivory with Watermelon, Cotton Candy, and Rose Water tips. All were buy
one get one free.

On Saturday, Mom and dad went on treasure hunt to find more. Mom found
Ivory dahlias but no Aubergine or Amethyst. They ventured further down
the peninsula, visiting Colma, San Mateo, Redwood City, and Mountain
View.

At the same time I went in search of Aubergine ribbons for my dress.
We found bins of satin ribbons, but no Aubergine and very little
Black. There were spools of Amethyst, Quarry, and Cotton Candy. Done.
Ribbons for our invitations, wedding favors, and tablescapes obtained.
150 yds: 50 Quarry, 50 Amethyst, and 50 Cotton Candy for under $11.

Sunday brought a suggestion to go to Jo-Ann Fabric Stores on our way
to my dress fitting in Sacramento. Quick search of the Internet
revealed one. Off we went. More Ivory dahlias and more Peonies. Still
no Aubergine or Amethyst. But... digging in buckets of silk flowers we
found a couple of Star Dahlias - one in a burgandy color with
Aubergine tips and an Ivory with Rose Water tips. Next we contemplated
fabric dye. Another DIY project was born. I'm now going to dye and
handpaint the 7 baby girl pink dahlias that I'd picked up on Friday.

While working on wedding stuff we saw a tweet from Ed and Heather that
they'd been to BevMo. Not remembering if BevMo has one or two 5 cent
sales a year, we looked at wines included in the sale. (Note: The
wines we initially chose were already sold out.) Across the parking
lot from Jo-Anns in Sacto was a BevMo. Mom and I quickly crossed the
lot and did our reconnaissance. Wines with 89+ points for under $15 were
in short supply. Call to cubes. Decision made. 36 bottles of wine
acquired.

Next stop - final dress fitting.

Did you send people on scavenger hunts for decor? Were they successful or are you making do with something else?